General information about kerala.

The name 'Keralam' or 'Kerala', as it was adopted by the English language, comes from the Malayalam words 'Keram' meaning Coconut Palm and 'Alam' meaning Land or Place. Keralam is therefore 'The Land of Coconut Palm'. The state has 14 districts.

According to one interpretation, very often quoted, what you stated is right. But the history has it that the coconut tree is not a native species of tree. It has come from Malesia, and since our climate and soil conditions were suited for its growth, it got spread in Kerala. Hence the name, Kerala, is not originated from coconut tree.Kerala is of of length about 600 km. It is very clearly come out of the Arabian sea. On one side (East) it is the hilly area (Western Ghats). So natural causes like soil erosion, tidal effects, etc. brought soil, marshy soil ('Cheru' in Malayalam), on the western side of Western Ghats. Since it was a place of marshy soil it was called "Cheralam". This after ages of use became "Keralam". Malayalam language has several such words which changed their consonants by usage.T.M.SankaranGold Member, SPK

Dear sir, This is is anew information for me. We blindly followed the old saying what we heard in our childhood. There are lots of deviations and new invention are there. One of my friend told about a book which point out this type of things. But unfortunately I forget the name. Sir, If you know any books which explains about this please suggest.With Best Regards,Subitha

To get some basic knowledge about Keralam you can refer 'Viswa vijnaanakosham' published by NBS, or 'Sarva vijnaana Kosham' published by Kerala Government. Also there are other books dealing with the history of Keralam authored by Sreedhara Menon and others.T.M.SankaranGold Member, SPK

Thank you for your response sir. I have seen Vishwa vijnaanakosham and sarva vinjana kosam in my school days. But I was not able to read on those days. Now defenitely I will read this. About Sreedhara Menon's book I heard already. But that also not able to read.With Best Regards,Subitha

Keralam is land of kera vriksham/ coconut land
. But today coconut trees are invissible. we import coconut for our daily use. Coconut and coconut oil is costly like gold. Now Keram is only in the name Keralam.